Pacts and Plots Over Shots
by Pen E Forthotz
Summary: After Penny's death, the gory nature of the ELE rears its head, to the disgust of Dr. Horrible. His salvation reveals itself in the form of a powerless Captain Hammer, asking for forgiveness. Can an unlikely partnership be made? possible oneshot no slash


_This is a bit of a tie in to the crossover I have written, but I feel that there is little need to know any of the other stories to understand this, so it is more of a oneshot. Please forgive any out of character-ness in the good Captain or Dr. Horrible. _

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Dr. Horrible knew how to survive. The drives to excel, to prove himself, to succeed were all secondary to this main survival instinct. It was what kept him alive those years after Penny's death, his years in the Evil League of Evil. It drove him to find Captain Hammer as soon as the novelty of villiandom wore itself out.

Every heist lost its excitement, robbing banks became pitifully easy, and Horrible's place in the ELE seemed to be a grunt than a new member. The fame that came with being in the League was not due to respect, but fear. Horrible knew this when he applied, but the reality of his position tasted bitter.

The cruelty of his fellow members was sickening to the man once known as Billy. Fury Leika was extremely violent to any men she saw whenever she left the headquarters. The one time she tried it with Horrible, she ended up frozen in time in a bridal shop window and only unfroze when the police where a block away. Professor Normal experimented on his captives in ways were close to the experiments of Mengele. Dead Bowie killed four henchmen for various reasons, such as getting the wrong color eye shadow and mentioning the "other" Bowie. Bad Horse…did things that Horrible still could not get out of his mind.

When it became evident that the disregard for human life that the ELE thrived on would not change the world for the better, Dr. Horrible knew that he had to eliminate the threat to his vision of a better world. The practices of the League must be stopped.

The ELE had to be eliminated and Dr. Horrible was the only one able to do it.

Finding Hammer was more difficult than Horrible had originally thought. He gave no warning of his departure, but was gone from the public eye as soon as he escaped from the shelter. Dr. Horrible had no possible way to locate the disgraced superhero and he had very few friends left to aid him in the search. *

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Billy stared into his web-cam. His soul was recovering from Penny's death, but he felt as if his life had been spiraling out of control. He had everything he ever wanted; yet it looked more glorious when he didn't have it. He couldn't stand the ELE much longer; their actions were sickening. He needed a way to stop them, but that required the assistance of something stronger than an elite group of super villains.

He got off of his chair and walked to the refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of beer. It was uncharacteristic of him to do something as plebeian as drink his troubles away, but certain situations call for it. A knock on the heavy iron door of the apartment made Billy start, spilling some of the amber liquid onto his navy sweatshirt. He cursed, brushing off the liquid and walked to the door, opening it with a glare and a snapped, "What?"

A haggard looking Captain Hammer stared back at him, his usually pristine and camera worthy appearance was covered with a five-O'clock shadow and bags under his eyes. Billy cringed back instinctively, preparing for a fist, and then when no pain resulted from the appearance of his nemesis, he watched him warily, twitching.

Hammer looked lost and uncomfortable. The superhero took a step forward into the room, wincing when Billy flinched, and pointed to the beer in the villain's hand. "You have another one of those, Doc?"

Billy relaxed, figuring that his life couldn't get much worse, and pointed to the fridge. "Help yourself. You probably would anyway."

Hammer watched as the villain climbed into an outrageously large armchair, most likely a result of a ray gun experiment gone array, and moved to the fridge to get a beer. "Thanks."

Billy and Hammer stared at each other in tense silence, both sipping their respective drinks. Hammer looked around the villain's domain, waiting to breech the void between them until the other man finished his bottle.

"I was never really a hero." Hammer said in a quiet voice, "I only really cared about the cameras, the fans, the fame. I hurt you a lot in the past."

Billy glared at the man, not that quick to accept the apology. The hero continued, "I never meant to let Penny get hurt—"

"She did, and your words hurt her almost as much as the ray."

Hammer pushed on guilt and emotion thickening his voice, "I realized that. I realized how much I hurt her, how much I hurt you, about a week after…"

"Funny, Hammer, you almost sound like you care about someone other than yourself." Billy sneered at his nemesis, his voice layered with years of pain.

"I lost my powers when the ray hit me. When they left, my mind felt clearer than it ever has. I realized what a selfish bastard I was, and how you can never be compensated for the pain I caused you."

Billy's eyes widened and he realized what Hammer was there for. "You are giving yourself up to me, aren't you?"

Hammer's eyes locked with Billy's, hardening. "Kill me. For all the pain I caused, I deserve it."

Billy looked back, shocked. He responded, "I'm not going to kill you. If I couldn't do it at the shelter, I obviously can't do it now!"

Hammer shouted back, "You are Dr. Horrible! My nemesis for years! I punched you, broke bones, gave you wedgies! I threw a car at your head! I stole the woman you loved and got her killed! KILL ME!"

Billy stood up and pushed Hammer back against the wall. He hissed into his rival's face with a voice low and quiet but full of anger and rage, "And that is exactly why I cannot kill you. You are the last remaining link I have to Penny, and because I tried to throw away my morals to kill you, I lost her. I am honoring her memory by valuing life, and you should do the same."

Billy threw Captain Hammer down onto the ground, displaying the strength that was so ineffective against a superhero but effective against a human. He looked down on him and then all of the anger seemed to melt out of his eyes and was replaced with grief. He sighed and crouched down and offered the hero a hand.

"If you want to pay me back for all of the pain you have caused, you will help me fix this messed up world we live in."

Hammer blinked at the change in his rival and stared at the hand offered to him. With a shaking grasp, he was helped up. The hero fully expected to have been disintegrated as soon as he walked trough the door and now he was being offered a sort of alliance. Hammer looked forlornly at the empty beer bottle lying on the side of Billy's desk, he was going to need stronger drink.

Billy caught the look and grabbed a larger bottle out of the fridge. He filled up two glasses of scotch and the pair sat down at the kitchen table. Billy downed his drink with only a short cough and refilled his glass. He twitched then started what he assumed to be a long conversation, "Captain Hammer-"

"Rick."

"What?" Billy said with another facial tic.

"My name. It's Rick."

The gesture was acknowledged with a lopsided smirk, "I never would have pinned you for a Richard…"

Rick smirked back, "And you are one to talk, Billy." He tried to copy Billy's previous feat by downing the scotch and came up choking.

Billy gave a small smile and looked into the bottom of his glass, "Sorry, this stuff is pretty strong. And my real name is not Billy, that's just the name I took when I came here."

Rick looked at the man he knew as Billy with shock. "But you have been my nemesis for three years!"

"Moved here about a year before that. My brother lives in North California, but we both moved here from New York."

"You have a brother?" Hammer had never truly known the man he had called his rival outside of the blogs and fights.

"Yeah. My mother still lives in the city. But that is besides the point." Billy stopped digressing, "I need you to help me."

Rick nodded his head. He had nothing else to lose. "I am not sure that I can be much help, but I can try. What do you need?"

"I want to destroy the Evil League of Evil."

Captain Hammer's spit take would have been comical if it was not a glass of very expensive scotch. "And how do you plan to do that?" he incredulously asked.

Dr. Horrible's evil laugh made Hammer cringe.

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_Thanks for reading! R and R please!_

* Moist remained a faithful friend, but his face was becoming well known as a henchman to Horrible. After being nearly hit with a bullet from the police, he requested retirement from the life of crime. Dr. Horrible honored his friend's choice and gave him a hefty sum of the money collected from various bank heists.

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End file.
